Russia’s Third Borey-Class Sub Blessed for Sea Trials

A third Borey-class nuclear-powered submarine will soon begin trials in the White Sea, and a Russian Orthodox priest has blessed the sub and its crew, the Sevmash shipyard said Monday.

The Vladimir Monomakh is due to enter service in 2014. “Today a prayer was conducted on board the guided missile submarine to evoke the Holy Spirit to serve a good cause,” the spokesman said, adding that the priest had also blessed the shipyard personnel.

The spokesman declined to say exactly when the submarine would go to sea. The first Borey-class submarine, the Yury Dolgoruky, was commissioned into the Northern Fleet in January, and the second, the Alexander Nevsky, will be handed over to the Russian Navy by the end of the year.

The Alexander Nevsky has been undergoing trials at the Sevmash shipyard since 2012. There will be three sea trials this year, and a Bulava ballistic missile will be test-launched from the submarine in the summer, the official said.

The first three vessels in the Borey series, also known as Project 955, are capable of carrying 16 Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles. A total of eight Borey-class submarines are to be built for the Russian Navy by 2020.

Sevmash will start construction this year of two upgraded Borey-class submarines under Project 955A – the Alexander Suvorov and the Mikhail Kutuzov – capable of carrying 20 ballistic missiles each.

Borey class submarines are to become the mainstay of the navy's strategic nuclear deterrent, replacing the aging Project 941 (NATO Typhoon class) and Project 667 class (Delta-3 and Delta-4) boats.

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